


Horsing Around

by caesar



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, F/M, Flirting, Horse Jokes, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 16:51:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18782260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caesar/pseuds/caesar
Summary: Jean is sick of the horse jokes. Historia doesn’t help.





	Horsing Around

**Author's Note:**

> this is entirely self-indulgent fun. only rated T for language

Jean hates cleaning the stables.

 

And yet, he’s always getting  stuck with stable duty.

 

He blames Eren. That suicidal bastard is always picking fights with him, challenges everything he says, and never fucking backs down. It’s absurd. Jean thought that almost being eaten would have set Eren straight since he nearly looked death in the eye for the millionth time, but  _no_ —Eren’s resolve is only strengthened. It comes out in every fight they have, and while Jean can outsmart Eren in a fight, he can’t match the never-ending determination that the titan shifter has.

 

Jean can’t totally blame him. But he’ll never say that to Eren.

 

“Stupid Eren,” he grumbles to himself as he stacks hay for the horses to eat. “Can’t even help at an orphanage without being a pain in my ass.” When he drops the last bit of hay, the horses whinny in appreciation. “I don’t know why Captain Levi keeps making me take care of you,” he complains to the horses, eyeing Levi’s dark mare in particular. “It’s like he’s in on Eren’s dumb horse jokes.”

 

“I think you’re assuming too much about Captain Levi.”

 

“H-Historia!” Jean nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears Historia’s voice, light with amusement. She enters the stable with a smirk, a welcome change from the empty demeanor she carried between revealing her real name and becoming queen. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Making sure you finish the chore that Captain Levi told you to do,” she teases. Her smile makes Jean’s stomach flip, especially now that it’s genuine—it’s dizzying for him. “Even if you do the best job, you always take forever.”

 

His face flushes a deep shade of red with embarrassment at her words. “I do not!” he protests indignantly. “I mean, it’s just—“

 

“Calm down,” Historia puts up her hands in mock surrender. “It’s a compliment. Why else do you think Captain Levi makes you do it all the time?”

 

Jean sputters, unsure of how to respond. He settles lamely for, “Thanks.” Historia laughs and goes to Jean’s horse—a brown stallion—and she pets his neck affectionately. He nudges her shoulder with his nose, so she pets right above his nose. His ears twitch calmly as he makes a quiet sound. Jean watches the scene with curiosity and mild wonder; Historia has always been good with horses, and his mind flashes to when she saved him, Armin, and Reiner by bringing his horse that ran astray. His cheeks burn again at the memory because he had been awestruck by her in that moment—and many more, frankly.

 

“What’s got you lost in thought?” she asks, breaking him from his reverie. Her blue eyes are bright and questioning, her slender fingers still on the horse’s neck. Her hair is falling from the loose ponytail, 

 

He swallows. “N-Nothing,” he lies. “You’re just—you’re very good with the horses,” he mumbles as he scratches the back of his neck. The corners of Historia’s lips turn up as she struggles to stifle a giggle since that was _clearly_ not  what he was intending to say.

 

“It’s only because we had animals on the farm where I was raised. They were the only friends I had,” Historia tells him, her tone soft with bittersweet memories. “Come here.” She extends her hand to him expectantly, making his ears red.

 

“What for?” he asks stupidly.

 

Historia rolls her eyes. “So you can learn how to have them respond to you the way they do to me.”

 

“Oh.” He reaches out nervously as she takes a gentle hold of his hand, placing it on the stallion’s neck. His horse looks at him with attentive eyes as if awaiting Jean’s next move, unblinking.

 

“Don’t be so tense. He’ll be nervous if he can tell that you are.” With Historia’s hand over his, she threads her fingers with his, drawing his focus back to her. He looks at her with wide amber eyes, completely at a loss for words at the slight blush on her lightly freckled cheeks. “You—“ he begins in a low voice, trying not to stumble over his words this time, “You’re really pretty, Historia.”

 

She turns her gaze to the horse bashfully, making Jean’s poor heart flutter. The horse startles Jean when he playfully nudges the brunette on his head with his nose. Historia giggles when Jean pinches a face at the wetness in his hair.

 

“He usually doesn’t give a damn about me if I’m not feeding him or taking him out. I guess you do have a magic touch with horses,” Jean concedes.

 

A mischievous glint brightens Historia’s whole expression as she faces Jean again with a brilliant smile. “Maybe that’s why you like me so much,” she speculates.

 

Jean feels like he’s been simultaneously punched in the chest and lit on fire with how his heart is pounding and his entire face burns down to his neck. Historia laughs, and the sound is musical even if it’s at his expense. As if to see how much more flustered she can make him, she puts her palms on his chest as she gets on her toes so she can kiss his cheek sweetly. His hands hover over her shoulders, wanting to take hold but too scared, and his skin tingles where her lips just were. He blinks and suddenly everything focuses on her, looking up at him with that blush and enticing smile, her eyes shimmering with something he can’t quite read. “H-Historia?”

 

“You know, if you were a horse, I would ride you any time,” she winks, dragging her fingertips down his chest before sauntering away, headed back in the direction of the orphanage.

 

Jean stares after her in a daze and a smile grows on his face as he realizes what she said. He turns to his horse and pats his neck gratefully. “Thanks, you pain in the ass.”

**Author's Note:**

> there may be a part two to this...in which the rating may go up lol.
> 
> much love


End file.
